Yellowstones Caldera Filled Super-Volcano Predicted to Sweep Two-Thirds of the U.S.

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

The gigantic super-volcano beneath Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming has been rising at a record rate since 2004........ Recently, a group of scientists are predicting that the world’s largest volcano in Yellowstone National Park could erupt in the near future.....Robert B. Smith, professor of geophysics at the University of Utah, who has led a recent study into the volcano, added: ‘Our best evidence is that the crustal magma chamber is filling with molten rock.

The caldera of Yellowstone National Park has erupted three times in the last 2.1 million years. The experts who are monitoring it say we could have another eruption.They said that the super-volcano’s floor has gone up three inches each year for the last three years alone, the fastest rate since records started in 1923.

Its explosion will surpass the power of Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980. Spewing lava far into the sky, a cloud of plant-killing ash would fan out and dump a layer 10ft deep up to 1,000 miles away.The researchers added, two-thirds of the U.S. could be devastated as toxic air sweeps through it, grounding thousands of flights and forcing millions to run from their houses.But they cannot put a date on when the next disaster might occur because of the lack of data.

When the eruption eventually takes place it will dwarf the effect of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which erupted in April 2010, causing travel chaos around the world.The University of Utah’s Bob Smith, an expert in Yellowstone’s volcanism told National Geographic: ‘It’s an extraordinary uplift, because it covers such a large area and the rates are so high.‘At the beginning we were concerned it could be leading up to an eruption.’
sniphttp://www.boncherry.com/blog/2011/0...rds-of-the-us/

Note: Widely differing magnitudes have been computed for some of these earthquakes; the values differ according to the methods and data used. For example, some sources list the magnitude of the 8.7 Rat Islands earthquake as low as 7.7. On the other hand, some sources list the magnitude of the February 7, 1812 New Madrid quake as high as 8.8. Similar variations exist for most events on this list, although generally not so large as for the examples given.

In general, the magnitudes given in the list above have been determined from the seismic moment, when available. For very large earthquakes, the moment magnitude is considered to be a more accurate determination than the traditional amplitude magnitude computation procedures. Note that all of these values can be called "magnitudes on the Richter scale," regardless of the method used to compute them.